Articles

The wines of DOQ Priorat 2023

by  |  24-07-2023

It’s that time of year for my annual analysis of the wines of DOQ Priorat which is accompanied by the Tasting Report that has over 150 wines scored for your drinking pleasure. There’s been a... more »

Tast del Decenni 2023: The DOQ Priorat 2013 vintage

by  |  14-06-2023

So after this forced stretch of time out in the weeds, we’ve now returned to holding the annual Tast del Decenni events for DOQ Priorat. What these are is very simple in concept in that... more »

Checking in with Mas Alta, Priorat

by  |  07-06-2023

It’s been nearly a quarter century since Mas Alta was founded in 1999 in the small village of la Vilella Alta of DOQ Priorat, but it’s covered a lot of ground during all those years.... more »

Having a new look at DOQ Priorat 2014

by  |  04-04-2023

Rummaging about the cellar with a strong(er) desire than usual to drink some Priorat wines, I came across several that were from the 2014 vintage for some reason. I can only assume that they were... more »

Alicia i Josep Viticultors: Tentiber – Vi de Paratge 2019

by  |  26-01-2023

I was recently asked by a colleague, “Do you ever get tired of drinking Priorat wines?” My face must have gone some form of a ghastly confusion as he quickly followed up with, “I mean,... more »

Expanding beyond wine’s harvest horizons

by  |  09-12-2022 ~ 2 Comments

Despite the claim that people want "unique experiences" these days, when visiting wine regions, they tend to do it in more or less the same time frame. For the Northern Hemisphere that means, May with... more »

A new look at Garnatxa Peluda… in Alella

by  |  14-11-2022

Whatever you do, don’t call it, “downy” Grenache. Much like how the peppers from Cuba are often misspelled as “habañeros” in the US or the Georgian aging vessel for wines is incorrectly transcribed as, “qveri”... more »

A Mediterranean exchange, Priorat on Hvar

by  |  04-11-2022

“Well, we like our wines strong here.” It was a statement that I was to hear in various forms during a recent trip to the island of Hvar on the coast of Croatia. In this... more »

Eight wines from Montsant to know right now

by  |  12-08-2022

I’ve been working on the review for the latest edition of a well-known, 700-page wine reference. About midway through, I had to pause for a bit when I came across this mention of DO Montsant,... more »

Ora Hotel, Priorat’s newest lodging destination

by  |  10-08-2022

Today sees the grand opening of the Ora Hotel in Torroja, a lovely stone village at the dead center of the Priorat wine region. It’s an opening that got quite delayed from its original timeline... more »